Altman Plants Acquires Color Spot Nurseries

Altman Plants Acquires Color Spot Nurseries

The sun set on 2018 with one of the biggest deals in floriculture industry history. Altman Plants, based in Vista, CA, closed a deal on Dec. 21 to purchase the remaining assets of Color Spot Nurseries from Wells Fargo. Joining Altman Plants’ additions in 2018 of a 20-acre facility in Salinas, CA, and 30-acres of new greenhouses at its Lake Mathews, CA, location, the acquisition of Color Spot’s remaining assets almost doubles the size of Altman Plants, to put the operation in the No.1 spot on Greenhouse Grower’s Top 100 Growers list.

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Before Color Spot filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and restructured, the company was listed with 21 million square feet of environmentally controlled space, 2,603 acres of outdoor space, and 206 acres of shade houses, and as of May 2018 was the largest grower in the country, according to Greenhouse Grower‘s 2018 Top 100 Growers Survey. Color Spot held that No. 1 position since the mid-90s. In 2018, Altman Plants was the second largest growing operation in the U.S.

After divesting ownership of Hines Nurseries in August and being acquired temporarily by Wells Fargo, Color Spot Nurseries was still one of the largest growers and distributors of live plants in the country, delivering bedding plants, perennials, annuals, flowering tropicals, ornamental shrubs, poinsettias, and other holiday plants to large and small retailers and wholesalers in the Western, Southwestern, and Gulf regions of the U.S. Founded in 1983, Color Spot employed 1,600 employees who fulfilled the needs of hundreds of retail and commercial customers in 26 states.

Color Spot’s five remaining production facilities in California and Texas, comprising an estimated 11 million square feet of environmentally controlled space and 1,500 acres of outdoor space, now folds into Altman Plants, which even before this acquisition owned more than 2,100 acres in several states. Altman Plants’ full scope of production includes ornamental bedding plants, container perennials, woody ornamentals, and potted foliage, as well as close to 700 acres of succulent and stock production.

Altman Plants Will Expand Retail Footprint

While all of the details are still being worked out, including exactly how large this acquisition makes Altman Plants, we caught up with Ken Altman, CEO and Co-President of Altman Plants to find out about some of the particulars that he could discuss. He confirmed that Altman Plants will absorb the Color Spot Nurseries facilities in Fallbrook, Salinas, and Lodi, CA, and in Troup and San Antonio, TX, as well as three locations in Waco, Walnut Springs, and Fort Davis, TX, that were previously closed and will remain closed for now. All of the facilities will be renamed Altman Plants, except for the San Antonio woody ornamentals operation, which will be “tightly interwoven” with Altman Plants, but operated under its former name, Lone Star Growers.

Altman Plants’ production

All of the facilities will continue growing the same crops they were producing before, serving most of the same customers with plant products and merchandising services. Most of the customers Color Spot was servicing were also already Altman Plants customers, including home improvement stores, warehouse chains, grocery stores, and independent garden centers, so the sale allows the company to expand its service to those customers.

Altman Plants leadership is now busy with integrating the two companies, including hiring on nearly all of the Color Spot Nurseries employees and joining the two companies into one blended culture. The top management group from Color Spot will not stay on, as those positions are already filled; however, the remaining 1,600 employees will be welcomed to Altman Plants, adding to the company’s current 3,000 employees.

Other integration priorities include deciding which operating system to use. Color Spot was using SAP while Altman Plants uses a homegrown system called Evolution. There will also be ample opportunities to refresh the Color Spot facilities with automation and new processes over time, Altman says.

In addition to Altman Plants’ significant growth in 2018, the Altman family invested heavily in the young plants business in late 2016 and early 2017 with its acquisition of both The Plug Connection and EuroAmerican Propagators, which were integrated together as The Plug Connection. Altman says in addition to serving Altman Plants’ young plants needs, The Plug Connection is rapidly attaining a wide variety of new young plants customers to provide them with plugs, liners, grafted vegetables, and tissue culture liners.

Look for more coverage of the new Altman Plants as more details come available on GreenhouseGrower.com.